The maintaining of a hairstyle may be a significant aspect of an individual's day-to-day activities. As individuals are unique, so are the multitude of ways in which one could style and manager his/her hair. With the multitude of hairstyles available, those involving the tying of hundreds if not thousands of braids present a challenge to the stylist. Much effort may be expended in cleaning the hair, arranging the strands, and braiding the strands. It is not unusual for a given style to require several hours or more to complete.
In one technique, often referred to as "Box Braids" or "Individual Braids" separate braids are woven and are intended to cascade off the scalp. The cascaded braids behave similarly to loose hair in that each braid can be styled as though it were an individual strand. For example, topknots, French rolls, and ponytails can be done with individual brands. Other braid styles such as "Micro Braids" and "Casamas" are created with the individual braid.
Depending upon the style chosen, the stitch of the braid can vary. A tight stitch may be required when doing a Casamas. A very loose stitch may create a more free-flowing braid.
After spending several hours with his/her stylist, having completing the braiding, it is not uncommon for the person to wear the styled hair for a number of weeks or months. When the time arrives, the person may desire to redo his/her braids or to remove them altogether he/she may require several hours to unbraid, straighten, and clean the hair. Much of the time often is taken up with the task of unbraiding the many strands. The removal of the braids often involves use of a "stylist" comb with a long, tapering to a pointed handle. The pointed end of the handle is put in the braid and the stylist exerts force to pull apart the braid. For example, in a three-strand braid, the stylist puts the comb handle in the area at where the three strands overlap and exerts a pulling force to loosen and unravel the braid. Although, this technique is successfully in removing the braids it suffers from a number of shortcomings. Considerable time is spent in the removal process. The design of the comb may contribute to the fatigue of the stylist and result insufficient control. To prevent the unintended breakage of hair or injury to the scalp. The comb may not have sufficient strength and resilience to stand the rigors of pulling the hair and itself may be damaged. To start the removal of extremely tight braids, the stylist may often have to improvise and use a tool not intended for hair, such as a toothpick.
Accordingly, there is a need to be able to unbraid and restyle a person's hair that minimizes breakage of the hair, reduces fatigue of the stylist, increases the productivity of the hairstyling process.